Title: The Reset ButtonAuthor: Mistress NikaRating: PG-13Summary: "What's that big red button do?" Naruto asked, pointing to the part that drew his attention.Pairings: Naruto/HinataWarnings: many and various, but nothing too badDisclaimer: I do not own Naruto.Notes: This is possibly a oneshot. Don't know yet.To keep track of where exactly in the series we are, I made the year of Naruto's birth 179 and the year in which everything is reset an even 200.

~(Year 200 - 21 years old)~"...and so, with this machine, I SHALL CONQUER THE WORLD! MWAHAHAHAHA!!"

Naruto stuck his finger in his ear, wiggled it around and pulled it back out. Examining his earwax coated pinky, he asked absently, "Yeah, that's great. What's it do again?"

Frustrated, the mad scientist wannabe ran his fingers through his white hair. "Look, if you don't pay attention, I'll never get to kill you! Everyone knows that the supervillain must explain his nefarious plot to the hero just before he kills him and activates his doomsday device!"

Naruto just looked confused. "Huh?"

"Okay," the man began, taking a deep breath to calm himself. "Let me put it in the simplest terms possible so even an imbecile like you can understand!"

Naruto had the feeling he should be insulted, but honestly, the man was just so cheesy that he couldn't muster the energy to care. If it weren't for the chakra draining cuffs and the fact that the man had a switch in his hand that would fry the hostages with one push of a button, he'd have already beaten him senseless.

Gesturing to the large, complicated piece of machinery behind him, the crazy man began again, speaking very slowly and with simple words. "This machine has the ability to warp space-time. I input parameters, such as a timeframe, people, places, events, anything I want to change or experience or delete from existence. Then I press this shiny gold button here and everything changes. Except me, because I'm standing inside this circle drawn on the floor. Now do you understand?"

"What's that big red button do?" Naruto asked, pointing to the part that drew his attention. It was labeled "DO NOT TOUCH", which, as everyone knows, always makes people want to do the exact opposite.

"What?" the man asked, looking at his creation. "Oh. That's just the reset button," he said dismissively, turning back to his captive. "Now, do you understand? Can I kill you now?"

"Honestly," Naruto replied, "you lost me at 'warp space-time'."

"WHAT!?" yelled the man, grabbing the bars of Naruto's cell and sticking his face through. "I've explained it four times already! How can you possibly be this dumb!?"

The blonde grinned guilelessly at the red-faced man. "Oh, I'm not," he admitted as a light tremor shook the room. "I was just distracting you long enough for Sakura-chan to free the hostages."

The man paled as another, larger tremor shook the room. Debris fell from the ceiling and various mad scientist gear toppled from precarious stacks.

"And that's my cue." Raising one fist, Naruto popped the man in the nose that he had so foolishly stuck through the cell bars.

"Ack!" the man exclaimed, stumbling backwards as blood spurted from his abused appendage. Naruto took this time to summon all his chakra, augment it with Kyuubi chakra, overload his cuffs and then snap them. "Normally," Naruto said while calmly smashing a Rasengan into the bars, then stepping through the resulting twisted metal. "I wouldn't hurt you too much. You didn't really cause much trouble, even though you threatened to. You didn't steal anything. You're not a murderer or a missing-nin. You're just some crazy old guy who needs a new hobby. Normally, I'd just rough you up a bit and hand you over to the authorities." Blue eyes narrowed. "Normally."

Naruto advanced on the cowering man, a menacing red aura covering him as he glared for all he was worth. "But I've been listening to you explain that damn machine, over and over, for three hours! I'm hungry. I'm dirty. You made me miss my date with Hinata-chan. You robbed me and took my Gama-chan. You have seriously pissed me off, and thus, must suffer!"

Naruto then pounced the man, who fought for his life, and a minor brawl ensued.

It should be noted that the entity known as Fate is made up of three women of questionable sanity who have far too much time on their hands and get bored very easily. Fate also likes to gamble. So, as the old woman passed a set of dice to the child, Naruto took a lucky kick to his chest. The child shook the dice enthusiastically, and Naruto flew across the room towards the machine. The child threw the dice and Naruto landed with a hand firmly on that big red button. The dice came up a three, and Naruto woke up.

~(Year 185 - 6 years old)~A small blonde sat bolt upright in bed. Two chubby fists rose to rub at his eyes as he blinked away the last vestiges of sleep. With a huge yawn, he climbed out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

A few minutes later, as he sat eating his breakfast of instant Ramen, he had to wonder at the strange dream he'd had. Something about toads and Sakura-chan and him being an awesome ninja. Which was a pretty normal dream, now that he thought about it.

Glancing at the clock, he noticed that he had only ten minutes before class started. Turning up the cup, he swallowed the rest of the noodles in one gulp, dropped the empty container to the floor and dashed out the door, his odd dream completely forgotten.

A little girl's voice giggled as the door slammed shut. Naruto was always so much fun to watch. Especially for the next ten years, before he got so serious.

~(Year 200 - 21 years old)~Naruto pounced the man, who fought for his life, and a minor brawl ensued.

The child sighed in disappointment as she handed the dice over to the woman beside her, and Naruto took a lucky kick to his chest. The woman shook the dice gently, and Naruto sailed gracefully across the room towards the machine. The woman tossed the dice and Naruto landed, butt first, sitting on that big red button with a hand on a dial which turned under his weight. The dice came up a ten, and Naruto woke up.

~(Year 194 - 15 years old)~Naruto's loud snores were cut off abruptly as something head-sized and vaguely squishy landed on his face. He choked for a moment as he began to smother, then raised a hand to knock the offending object away. The toad croaked at him, staring at him intently as the blonde cracked one eye open, then poofed away in a burst of smoke.

Naruto glared over at Jiraiya, who sat calmly eating his breakfast.

"What?" the old pervert asked with a far too innocent look as he tossed a cup of Ramen at his face. "You said you wanted to get up early so we can make it to Konoha today."

Naruto was instantly awake, snatching the Ramen out of the air and pouring hot water in it. "Hell yeah!" he exclaimed through a slightly crunchy mouthful. "I bet Sakura-chan has been so lonely without me! And Iruka-sensei has to--"

He paused as a strange feeling of deja vu came over him. He was sure he'd done this before, maybe even more than once. There was a dread welling up inside him and he had the strangest urge to hug his perverted sensei tightly and never let go. This disturbing urge, more than anything else, convinced him that these could not be his own thoughts.

His eyes went wide and he turned his head this way and that, searching for a hidden enemy. Finding nothing, he tried to dispel a genjutsu with no luck, but then, genjutsu had never been his specialty.

Looking back at the man across from him, he asked, "Eh, Ero-sennin... Am I under a genjutsu?"

Jiraiya raised one eyebrow at him. "No," he replied matter-of-factly. "But if you were, then I'd probably be an illusion, so I wouldn't tell you the truth anyway." Naruto just looked confused. Sighing, Jiraiya took pity on him. "No, you're not under a genjutsu. Why would you think you are?"

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly, unwilling to tell him about his strange urge to hug the man and maybe even cry a bit. "Well, I think I had a weird dream. You were dead, and there was this guy who was a bunch of other guys and a woman too, and a guy who made trees and crap, and a Sasuke lookalike who was obsessed with my... Uh, and there was a mad scientist, and an earthquake, and Sakura-chan was always hitting me, and I was a really awesome ninja!"

Jiraiya nodded sagely. "Just a normal dream then?"

Naruto blinked. "Yeah. Pretty much."

As they cleaned up their campsite and erased any trace of their presence, the strange dream, once again, was completely forgotten.

Later, just before his death, Jiraiya would flashback to this moment and wish he'd paid more attention to Naruto's dream.

~(Year 200 - 21 years old)~Naruto pounced the man, who fought for his life, and a minor brawl ensued.

With a smile, the woman handed the dice to the crone, and Naruto took a lucky kick to his chest. The crone shook the dice with both hands, and Naruto toppled head-over-tail across the room towards the machine. The crone tossed the dice with a cackle and Naruto landed, head first, on that big red button. The dice came up a four, and Naruto woke up.

~(Year 187 - 8 years old)~Naruto sat bolt upright in bed. Two fists rose to rub at his eyes as he blinked away the last vestiges of sleep. With a huge yawn, he climbed out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

For some reason, he had one hell of a headache this morning.

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